Cabinet for sound-reproducing devices



Sept. 2, 1947. P. M.GAz`LAY CABINET FOR SOUND REPRODUCING DEVICES FiledNov. 29, 1943 Patented Sept. 2, 1947 CABINET FOR SOUND-REPRCDUCNGDEVICES Paul M. Gazlay, Evanston, Ill., assigner to Continental MusicCompany, Chicago, Iii., a corporation of Iliinois Application November29, 1943, Serial No. 512,230

2 Claims. l

This invention relates to cabinets for sound producing devices and moreparticularly to radio or phonograph cabinets.

In radio and phonograph cabinets its has heretofore been the usualpractice to leave an opening in the cabinet adjacent the speaker and tocover the opening with cloth. Generally a grill of wood or metal hasbeen fastened over the cloth to prevent puncturing or other damagethereto. The necessity for such openings has seriously limited cabinetdesign and has compelled the designers to adopt various unsatisfactoryexpedients to make the openings or the grills less conspicuous.

In certain types of cabinets designed to present the appearance ofstandard articles of furniture the sound opening has been concealedbehind hinged doors and in such cabinets very pleasing eects have beenachieved. However, it is necessary in use to let the doors stand openfor proper emission of the sound and this not only spoils the appearanceof the cabinet but also leaves the door in a projecting position whereit is apt to be bumped into or tripped over.

The ideal cabinet is one in which no openings or other breaks arerequired in the walls but from which sound may be emitted freely and itis one of the objects of the present invention to provide cabinet ofthis type.

Another object of the invention is to provide a cabinet having a soundemitting opening which is permanently closed by a thin flexible sheet ofwood veneer. Such a sheet may be finished to match the remainder of thecabinet and yet will pass sound without perceptible interference.

Still another object of the invention is to provide a cabinet in which aportion of the wall is formed by an external sheet of wood veneercemented to a textile sheet which is in turn cemented to a relativelystiff wire clo-th backing. Preferably for large openings the wire clothis secured to a framework of Wood or the like.

The above and other objects and advantages will be more readily seenfrom the following description, when read in connection with theaccompanying drawing, in which- Figure l is a perspective view of acombined radio and phonograph cabinet embodying the invention;

Figure 2 is an enlarged plan view of a panel constructed according tothe invention with the successive layers broken away;

Figure 3 is an enlarged section on the line 3 3 of'Figure 2; and

Figure Il is a further enlarged detail section similar to Figure 3.

The cabinet as shown in Figure 1 is preferably made of woo-d andcomprises relatively heavy wooden side walls I0, `a lbase -Il supportedon legs I2 and a top I3. As shown, the top is formed in two sectionswhich are preferably hinged at the back of the cabinet so that they maybe opened to permit access to radio and phonograph mechanism containedin the cabinet.

The front of the cabinet is divided into four panels Id, I5, It and Il,one or more of which may, if desired, be hinged doors to permit accessto a record storage space or the like in the cabinet. The usualloudspeaker is mounted behind one of the panels such, for example, asthe panel Il. The three panels I4, I5 and IB may be of plywood or otherrelatively heavy wood construction but the panel I'l is permanently xedin the front of the casing and is constructed to pass sound therethroughwithout requiring any openings in the casing.

The construction of the panel Il is best seen from Figures 2, 3 and 4 ascomprising an outer layer of very thin flexible wood veneer I 8 cementedover its inner surface to a fabric sheet I9. This material has a totalthickness of approximately ,0154 inch, the thickness of the wood veneerI8 being approximately .0118 inch so that the entire sheet is quite thinand relatively ilexible. In order to support the sheet against easypuncturing or other damage the inner side of the textile sheet I9 iscemented to a reinforcing layer of wire cloth 2 I. Preferably the entiresur face is cemented together as shown in detail in Figure 4 so that nolooseness between the fabric and wire cloth can occur to cause rattlingor like disturbances.

In the case of relatively large openings the wire cloth is furtherreinforced by a frame work of wood or the like which may be a sheet ofplywood having openings cut therethrough to leave cross frame members 22underlying and supporting the wire cloth. The entire assembly ispermanently fastened in place in the cabinet with the usual loudspeakerbehind it and spaced slightly from it.

In use the cabinet can be so designed that a panel constructed as shownin Figure 2 may be placed in any desired part of the cabinet withoutinterfering with the design of the remainder of the cabinet and withoutrequiring the provision of any openings in the cabinet for the emissionof sound. Instead of forming a panel such as shown at I1 in this mannerit will be appreciated that the sound emitting panel might be used in afalse door or in the side of the cabinet or in any other desired place.Regardless of its location the Wood Veneer I8 may be finished to blendwith the remainder of the cabinet so that pleasing designs can be madewithout openings and Without requiring doors or the like which muststand open during operation of the sound producing mech-` anism. A

I have found that a panel constructed in this manner will pass soundwith a high degree of efficiency and without perceptible damping orother interference with the sound.

While one embodiment of the invention has been shown and described indetail herein it will be understood that this is illustrative only andis not intended as a de-nition of the scope, reference being had forthis purpose to the appended claims.

What is claimed is:

1. A sound transmitting wall portion for a cabinet comprising a thinsubstantially at sheet of wood Veneer on the order of .0012 inchthickadapted to be nished on its exterior to blend with the remainder of acabinet, a textile fabric reinforcing sheet secured to the inner side ofthe sheet, and a frame secured to the inner side of the reinforcingsheet for permanently securing the sheets in an opening in a cabinet.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file ofthis patent:

I UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 1,257,985 Duffy Mar. 5, 19182,167,625 Albano Aug. l, 1939 2,171,940 Macnabb Sept. 5, 1939 2,214,393Wilbur Sept. 10, 1940' 2,220,305 Turney Nov. 5, 1940 1,870,171 BuckleyAug, 2, 1932 2,261,264 Luty Nov, 4, 1941 2,263,828 Smith Nov. 4, 19412,329,366 Weill et al Sept. 14, 1943

